Gen Con Purchase Offer Rejected!

Gen Con just sent me their official response to the “Letter of Intent” purchase offer and it looks like it was rejected. Rather than muddy the waters with my own comments, here is the complete text of Adrian Swartout’s (President of Gen Con LLC) press release.

Trask

Many of you have heard speculation about a pending Gen Con sale and I’d like to take this opportunity to address the situation.

On the eve of our deadline to file our final reorganization plan and disclosure statement, Gen Con counsel received an unsolicited “Letter of Intent” from Gen Con Acquisition Group for purchase of all the assets of Gen Con. We believe this offer was clearly timed to disrupt our ability to get a plan confirmed and is an attempt at a hostile takeover with the intention of ousting Peter Adkison as the owner.

The offer was suspiciously cryptic, with no letter of introduction, good will, or summary of intentions for forward management and opportunities for current staff. Given the date of submission, the lack of prior outreach from this group, and the overt omission of intentions regarding management of business operations, it was difficult to take this offer seriously. It’s from an anonymous group that clearly does not understand the value Peter brings to Gen Con. Any acquisition offer that relies on future profits of the business to service the outstanding debt that does not have a provision for Peter’s continued involvement is not a sound offer.

Challenges with considering the offer aside, I have a responsibility to our creditors to consider any alternatives to reorganization. As such I have diligently reviewed the offer in conjunction with our creditor committee and we have determined it is a high risk proposition with far too many negative implications and is not in the best interest of our creditors. It is our intent to disregard this offer and continue toward confirmation of a plan substantially similar to the offer filed with the Court.

Our goal this last year has been to stabilize our operations and establish that Gen Con Indy could be operated profitably. As such we had our first profitable year since 2005 and are confident in our ability to fund our reorganization plan. Throughout this process we’ve cooperated and worked closely with our creditor committee – we believe they support our plan. We’re expecting our creditors will vote to accept the plan and are currently scheduled to reemerge from Chapter 11 in early January.

The last few months have been very busy here in the office and the plans for Gen Con Indy 2009 couldn’t be shaping up any better. I have the distinct pleasure of leading a small team of dedicated and passionate individuals who live, breath, eat and sleep Gen Con. In any organization there is always room for improvement, but it is truly a labor of love for all of us here and an incredible honor for me to be the steward for an event that is as unique and special as Gen Con is. It’s more than a business – it’s more than a convention – it’s an experience that touches each of us in a deeply personal manner and brings us together as a community.

We’re excited to bring you the Best Four Days of Gaming! for years to come and we thank you for your support and faith in us.

6 thoughts on “Gen Con Purchase Offer Rejected!”

I totally agree with this statement. I am attorney and the offer clearly seemed to suggest that the debts would be paid with the company’s own profits so other than the initial payment they offered no value.

I also agree that because of the unique nature of Gencon as a convention, with its history, you absolutely need someone like Peter Adkison to head it up as it currently exists. Obviously the time may come when that is no longer the case and the convention has transformed into something more familiar to the general public and all you need is a numbers guy to head it up, but currently Gencon is about way more than numbers and there is just a certain goodwill Peter Adkison has in the community/industry that cannot be valued at this time.

I don’t think Peter Adkison has as much good will as you think.I don’t think he’s added anything to the Gen Con name,and he’s made several errors that have diminished the Con as an institution. The fact that you can’t get in and just look around anymore has killed the Con as an introductory place for new gamers. If the Con had the entry fees(adjusted for inflation)and lack of local gaming community support it does now,there wouldn’t be a Peter Adkison to talk about. WOTC got all those new fans by newbies coming to cons,and spending their money at the booths,and trying new stuff. Has their been a huge upswing in local gaming since they relocated? No. Why?Because Gencon now thinks of itself as just another sci-fi/gaming con.Oh yeah,and “the successor to G3”.Find someone to run it who actually likes ALL gaming,and it might have some hope. Otherwise,it like a lot of cons, is going to go under during the next few years due to the economy.